


wash away my mistakes

by saltwaterheartstrings



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Captain Cobra - Freeform, F/M, Missing Scene, written post 508
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-18
Updated: 2015-11-18
Packaged: 2018-05-02 07:38:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5240099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltwaterheartstrings/pseuds/saltwaterheartstrings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They’d been glancing at newspapers together for a while before Operation Light Swan ever became necessary. </p><p>It had started at Granny’s on a Saturday, as most things did: Emma was having lunch with her mother at home by Snow’s insistence, and David was on duty, so Killian was having lunch by himself and Henry had wandered over to his table as if it was the most obvious thing in the world to do.</p><p>--</p><p>Operation Light Swan wasn't just for Emma, and Henry meant every bit of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	wash away my mistakes

wash away my mistakes

 

\--

Henry wasn’t sure how his and Killian’s relationship should be categorized at this point. 

Father and son, no. It probably looked like it from the outside, but they weren’t there yet (didn’t plan on ever going all the way there) and Killian didn’t seem to expect it. That was okay.

Boyfriend and the kid, no. Henry had always gotten the impression from TV shows and stuff that kids with single parents (not like that was anything resembling his situation anymore) were supposed to be disregarded by the parent’s boyfriend/girlfriend, or envied, or, he doesn’t know, something unfriendly. It wasn’t like that. There’d been a sort of one-way animosity from Henry himself until recently, yeah, but they were kind of friends now.

He could always just put Killian down as a friend, of course, albeit an older and dissimilar one, but the relationship the man had with his mom was too strong and all-encompassing to be left out of the equation entirely. 

The thing was, Killian had showed up in the picture all at once. At first he’d been just the pirate who sailed to Neverland to help rescue him from Peter Pan, but then after the year in New York his position in Henry’s mind catapulted to Very Important Person to Mom, and he was still having a bit of trouble keeping up. 

\--

They’d been glancing at newspapers together for a while before Operation Light Swan ever became necessary. 

It had started at Granny’s on a Saturday, as most things did: Emma was having lunch with her mother at home by Snow’s insistence, and David was on duty, so Killian was having lunch by himself and Henry had wandered over to his table as if it was the most obvious thing in the world to do.

(It wasn’t. He’d only come inside to get a cocoa to go and then he was going to wait to eat until he was back at Regina’s and could make himself a sandwich or two free of charge, but when he saw the back of Killian’s head where he was sitting by himself in the booth in the back, well, he still felt a bit guilty over the whole Spell of Shattered Sight thing, so Henry mustered up every bit of his courage and marched over the take the other side of the booth.) 

(They’d somehow ended up examining the classifieds together, seeing which houses were listed as being close to the water. Also, Killian paid for his meatball sub, so it was a thorough win-win.)

They'd agreed on keeping it secret from Emma; thinking back on it, Henry wasn't even sure why. For a while it had been a slow endeavor, considering that usually whenever Henry saw Killian Emma was glued to his side, sometimes by the lips, which was gross because yeah, he’s a teenager now, with a bit more understanding about that stuff, but still, it’s his mom. Of course they couldn’t talk about their Operation (he hadn’t named it yet, hadn’t even explained the concept of Operations to Killian now that he thought about it) when Emma was in the room, so that whole thing made their efforts slow going. 

Not to mention that the Storybrooke real estate scene was pretty much the same from week to week and no real progress would be made until they could actually look at places, which wasn’t really an option while school was still in session and Henry had like a hundred relatives and parental figures jostling for his attention.

So the Operation went slowly, unhurriedly, just an occasional questing into inky paper while Henry and the pirate who loved his mom played for French fries with loaded dice.

\--

Even in Camelot, which was basically the ultimate fairytale lover’s paradise, Henry found himself hanging out at Granny’s all the time. At first he didn’t have any need for its comfort, being too enthralled by the magic outside, but when a girl friendzones you and breaks your heart... Okay, maybe his heart wasn’t totally broken, but a familiar setting was nice. 

“‘Ello, lad,” Killian greeted with a nod, and slid onto the barstool next to Henry’s. “How are you doing?”

Henry shrugged, twiddling with the straw in his milkshake. 

“Strangely enough,” Killian drawled, slapping a newspaper onto the bar, “it turns out that Granny’s fine establishment gets the daily paper even in another realm.”

Frowning, Henry took a sip. “How is that possible?”

“At this point, I’ve decided not to question it.” Killian flipped to the classifieds in a practiced one-handed gesture. “Got a pen?”

Henry rummaged in his pockets before retrieving an old red one and scribbled on a corner of the front page to make sure it still worked before handing it over. “Anything new?” he asked.

“The one-story down Main Street sold,” Killian said matter-of-factly, “and I believe this one’s new. This one, too.”

Biting the inside of his mouth, Henry eyed the selections. “Well, that’s too small,” he said, poking at the first new listing. “Couldn’t have anyone over for dinner. How does this one sound?”

“Looks to be about the right size, and it looks well-kept from the picture. Perhaps-”

“No, no,” Henry interrupted. “Look, it’s in the middle of the woods. That won’t work at all.”

Killian smiled. “And what if your mother wants a domicile in the woods?”

“She doesn’t,” Henry asserted, clicking the cap back on his pen. “Don’t be silly.” He nudged Killian with his shoulder like David sometimes did with him, just in case he’d hurt any feelings, and then he changed the subject. “You think we’ll be back in Storybrooke before long?”

“It all depends on your mum now,” Killian said, looking down at the newspaper. “And, well. I’ve yet to see her fail.”

“Yeah,” Henry agreed. A not-altogether-awkward silence fell in which he knocked his feet against the rungs of his barstool. “Did Mom ever tell you about Operation Cobra?” he asked abruptly.

Henry could see Killian smiling from the corner of his eye. “Your campaign to break the first curse? Aye, that she did.”

“I think we should name this project, too. Just for posterity,” he added.

Killian raised hand and hook in a you tell me gesture. “You’re the creative one, lad. I’d just name it something fatuously obvious like, let’s say, Operation Light Swan.”

“No,” Henry decided, grinning. “That’s perfect. Operation Light Swan it is.”

Killian opened his mouth, probably to protest, and closed it just as quickly. “If you insist, lad.”

\--

They found it three days later.

“Two stories, open floor plan, newly remodeled kitchen,” Killian read over Henry’s shoulder, red pen in hand. 

“And it’s got that ocean view we want,” Henry added. “From the picture it doesn’t look half bad. Kinda classy, but not too much.”

Nodding, Killian scanned the rest of the article. “Let’s have a visit when we return to Storybrooke, then, shall we?” He circled the picture in bright red ink, scrawling the words This one? on top. 

“I can’t wait to show Mom,” Henry said, nearly bouncing in his seat. They’d moved to a booth to take advantage of what light remained outside. “She’d been talking about getting her own place forever, like, ever since you guys started dating.”

“I believe it is about time she gets her own home, especially considering the young prince,” Killian said absently, “regardless of my place in said home.”

“Come on, Hook,” Henry said. “The two of you are practically married. Of course you’ll belong there.” 

Killian scratched behind his ear, blushing. 

(Henry took a moment to wish the man would have tells like that when they played poker.) 

“No, seriously.” Henry leaned forward. “This is as much your house as it is hers. That’s what Operation Light Swan is about, isn’t it? It’s about your future, both of your futures, your future together.” Suddenly self-conscious, he leaned back, rubbing his nose. “And if I happen to get a spare room to drop in every now and then, that’s just how it’s gonna go,” he added quietly. 

Killian stared. 

\--

So he gave Emma the paper with the red markings when she looked ready to give up. He told her about the future, but where it had made Killian smile it seemed to scare her instead.

\--

“Everything okay?” he asked under his breath when the two lovebirds returned to Granny’s, and Killian smiled widely, reaching out to nudge his shoulder affectionately.

“Thanks to you, lad.” 

\--

The worst part of it was, they were so close.

In stories, things were supposed to get bad before they got better, but this time, they got way better before dropping to the absolute worst case scenario.

Mom had been nervous anyway, even after Arthur and Zelena were defeated and everyone was safe back at the diner; she'd wrung her hands the whole time Merlin was delivering his final instructions, and only that intense-eye-contact-thing that she and Killian had going was able to make her stop fidgeting. 

Then she'd extracted a flame from the ember in the box and shaped it into a miniature supernova, like the cool witch-mom she was, and she'd just been reforging Excalibur (what even was his life) when Killian cried out.

The blood dribbling down the side of the man’s neck had made Henry's own blood run cold, but the thing that really scared him was his mom’s reaction.

Emma freaked out. 

Just when they’d won, Killian was lying on the tiled floor, blood dripping down his skin, and Emma was pulling on his vest, crying, pleading, and-

Operation Light Swan had only one vital factor to it, and it wasn’t the house by the water, or the spare bedroom for Henry, or the dining room big enough to fit an entire book of fairytale characters: it was Killian Jones, the pirate who told him stories about his dad that no one else knew, the man who’d already died for them once before, and Mom couldn’t lose him. Not now, not ever again.

Merlin wanted Emma to destroy the darkness instead, and the others said there was no hope for Killian- but Henry, as little as he could do, refused to accept it.

Emma disappeared in a cloud of smoke, taking Killian and Excalibur with her, and Henry couldn’t help but hope that whatever she was trying to do would work. 

It had to. 

\--

(Even in Camelot, where everyone was on edge and his mom was evil and King freakin’ Arthur was evil, Henry was surrounded by good guys who made him a priority. Considering the sheer size of his family tree, it took him by surprise when the loss of one more person- the darkness enveloping one more soul- did so much damage.)

\--

“We picked this house?” Henry repeated, turning in a circle to take the whole room in. 

“We called it Operation Light Swan,” Hook murmured. He was clenching his fist to keep the magic in. “It was supposed to be for the future. We were going to save her.”

“We still haven’t lost her,” Henry insisted. “We haven’t lost either of you.” 

Killian cocked his head, eyes haunted, and said nothing.

Henry put his foot down. 

Dang it, he was awash in family of all kinds but there was something special and absolutely necessary about a guy who was a step more than avuncular, who was invested enough to see not just the savior’s kid or the mayor’s kid or even the little boy with a striped scarf and a book of fairytales under his arm, and-

(He’d lost Dad already. He couldn’t lose the stories about Dad too, about Neverland seas and sailing lessons.)

(He couldn’t lose the fries and the dice, the weekends at sea where he complained about having to wear his life jacket, the classified sections and meatball subs at Granny’s, or even this particular red-marked edition of the Daily Mirror that he couldn’t remember. He didn’t want to lose this too.) 

“You just have to fight it,” he said weakly. “You just have to remember who you are.”

\--

 

\--

(coda)

\--

“Are you sure?” Emma asked, looking up to the house. Her fingers were laced tightly with his, and he wasn’t sure they’d ever be able to let go. “I was so dark here.”

“So was I,” he reminded her. “But we’re not dark anymore.”

“You really think we can make it our white picket fence?” Her voice was timid. “After everything?”

“Henry picked this place with our happy ending in mind, and I think he knows what he’s talking about,” Killian said. He smiled down at her, and she returned his smile without even intending to, like she always did. “The lad hasn’t steered us wrong yet.”

**Author's Note:**

> because captain cobra is my favorite and is an excellent way to deal with angst. 
> 
> title from to kill a king "rays" 
> 
> concrit would be greatly appreciated :)


End file.
